Five Times Lindsey Fell in Love with Tyler
by loveyourbiggestfan
Summary: And the one time she hated him. For Albert Einstein's Fangirl's '5 Times' challenge. L/T, R&R! Oh, and Merry Christmas you guys!


**Maybe not exactly what I expected to post on Christmas Day. xD I'll try to come up with a Christmas drabble or something later. **

**First attempt at L/T, so it might turn out pretty bad, and it doesn't end well. Hope you guys enjoy anyway. :D**

**(Hehe.)**

**((This was written for Albert Einstein's Fangirl's challenge. The thread is in the forum on my profile.)****)**

**(((Last one, I promise. Merry Christmas everyone! ;D)))**

**Disclaimer: I do own TDI.**

* * *

1. Lindsey Grace Parker did not like the idea of communal washrooms. She did not like the idea of being stuck at some 'summer camp' with delinquents who liked to 'assassinate' reindeer at 'summer camp'. She did not like the idea of sharing 'cabins' with 'guys', especially guys who were 'delinquents' who liked assassinating reindeer at 'summer camp'.

But strangely enough, everyone else seemed…nice.

Their taste in fashion seemed a bit off, but, well, she could live with that. The piercings, the unusually dyed hair, the 80's-themed specs, the weird sense of putting colors like lime green and diarrhea pink_ together_… yeah, it couldn't be that bad, _really_.

Well _who_ was she kidding?

She couldn't even stand being ten feet away from a tiny six-legged critter thing, how in the fashion world of Prada could she-

_Omigod_, there was a tiny six-legged critter thing _right_ in _front_ of her!

Lindsey screamed, and jumped to one of the top bunks. That stupid delinquent who liked to assassinate reindeer then came out of nowhere and smashed the poor thing with an axe. Everyone else stared as it just laid there, dead.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. It turned out to be this guy with messy light brown hair wearing a red track suit. He was pretty cute, actually.

"You know, I could do that too." And his _teeth_ were so _white_!

She _did_ like the jocks a lot better.

--

2. Maybe dodgeball wasn't her thing, after all.

She decided this after getting hit dead-on in the face several times since the game started (and once, when it hadn't).

At least her shoes still looked nice. But the numerous bruises on her forehead, cheekbones, etc…maybe weren't so fabulous.

The cute guy with the brown hair and the tracksuit ran up to her. What was his name again? Tylenol? Tyrone? …Taylor?

He helped her up.

"Uhm." Her head spun. And she was craving steak and potatoes. Lindsey felt to see if her nose and everything else was still in place. "Omigosh, my face! How's my face?"

The-cute-guy-with-brown-hair-and-the-tracksuit-who-she'd-seemed-to-forget-the-name-of gave this kind of nervous laugh. "It's really…not that bad."

With an awkward pause, he added: "You still look…_great._"

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

To this, she was satisfied.

"You wanna go for a walk?"

Despite everything, "Okay!"

And so the pair headed down the beach, triggering quite the uproar. "You can't be serious." "What are those two thinking? If they're even _thinking_?" Someone even yelled, "Tyler, you are so off the team after this!" Lindsey suspected it was that annoying (CSI? CIBC?) …CIT-in-training who smacked her forehead everytime she said something.

Tyler, she pondered, as walked along the sand in their barefeet, together. So that was his name.

--

3. Two months later, dangling her tanned legs at the edge of the pool at the resort, she realized she loved him. It could not be explained. He had flaws-plenty of them, people had pointed them out more than once. Yet for some uncanny reason, she could not see them.

He would make her laugh a lot, even when he didn't mean to be funny. And she loved his dimples, especially when they were for her.

There was this one time she sat by the pool's bar, leaning her elbow against the polished wood, sipping an iced tea. After about ten minutes he came out, standing on a crate of oranges, singing into a hairbrush. Everyone gaped.

Lindsey giggled to herself as he announced, "This one's for a special someone here with us this fine afternoon. Babe, you know who you are."

Tyler went from bench to stool to diving board to tree, screeching from the top of his lungs, "_I got your runaway smile in the piggybank baby; gonna cash it right in for a new Mercedes; you were worth the hundred thousand miles, but you couldn't stay awhile_."

She swooned; people started to leave.

"_I got a first class ticket to a night all alone; and a front row seat up right by the phone 'cause you're always on my mind and I'm running out of time_." People started to throw tomatoes.

"_Now I'm heels over_-" As this was recited, Tyler ran into a pole.

Well, she did like surprises.

--

4. One year later, they met at the convenience store.

It was a bright summer day in the middle of June, a week before regular classes would be out (finally), and then they'd have to go sign up for their summer classes (groan). They'd moved into town the week before, finishing school a tad early. Between the unpacking and the taking breaks from unpacking, his mother had carefully instructed him to run to Vicky's and buy a bag of salted nuts. It was three in the afternoon on a Thursday, and he would have much rather been working out (or possibly not quite) at the gym as per usual. But Tyler was the kind of guy that listened to his Mama.

He went off in a pair of new sneakers, tripping on a rock and almost getting run over here and there, but fortunately, he made it there alive. Or at least, in one piece.

Meanwhile, she had started working her summer hours, as suggested by her father. For a heiress who probably owned more millions than half the country, Lindsey didn't mind all that much. She liked being around people, and even people she knew vaguely from middle school or her horse-back riding lessons would show up every once in awhile. It was a bad habit, but most everyone loved her for it-chatting days with fellow customers.

There was always something she had to say. And when there wasn't, she was usually able to come up with something eventually, like in say, twelve seconds?

When she saw him approaching, however, placing the bag of salted nuts on the counter and dropping a twenty dollar bill, for the first time in her life she was speechless.

He grinned. She stood there frozen, her mind running blank on all the right words.

"I've missed you," she said finally, ten minutes later with a line of fuming impatient customers much too far back in her thoughts.

--

5. "Like, right now?" The quirky blonde twirled the spiral cord between her fingers, giggling into the phone as she meticulously painted her toenails bright red.

"Yeah. Think you can meet me at the plaza in twenty minutes, tops?" He could picture her smiling, nodding at the other end.

Lindsey capped the bottle and examined her work, "I'll be there in ten."

No one expected her to be serious, including herself, as she showered, washed her hair thoroughly, got dressed, and applied her make-up in eight. Her heart raced as she sprinted down the stairs and flung out the door, calling for a taxi (modest, she was) seven seconds soon after.

She arrived a minute later than planned, an autumn breeze tangling in her hair. Lindsey thanked the driver, throwing in a generous tip, and scanned the area for the familiar boy with the light brown hair and the three-month old sneakers.

There he was by the stands, hands in his pockets, leaning against a miniature billboard post. The corners of his lips curved as he saw her, with the sincere element of surprise, "You weren't kidding when you said ten."

"I'm a minute late," she shrugged, taking the spot next to him, letting her hair loose.

"Weird. Says 5:40 on _my_ watch, right here."

Lindsey smirked. "Perfect."

For the next while, they just watched. Took note of their surroundings, the people that went by, with just minimal conversation in between. Sometime after most of the crowd had gone, she grabbed his hand, "Come on."

He raised an eyebrow, as she gestured over to the fountain, "W-what..?"

She begged innocently. Tyler could never to say no to her.

That night they ran and danced around the fountain, spinning and not caring about the rest of the world around them. They kissed and they laughed, hours after everyone had gone home, and forgot they were there in the first place.

_Them kids_, the passing-by elderly recalled, looking back to the day they were once, exactly like that. _Maybe this one will last._

_--_

6. It did not last, like she had hoped.

She sat alone in her apartment five months later, glaring at the phone. Her face was stained with parched tears. It hurt to breathe, to laugh. She'd gotten quite skinnier. She hadn't had a full meal in weeks.

She ordered take-out once every few days, only to take a bite and dispose of the rest. She trapped herself in her own enclosed space, four walls that seemed less friendly than they had used to be. When her parents called to check up on her, she'd hung up. They weren't aware of what was going on. She couldn't tell them.

Her throat burned. Her heart ached. Yet she couldn't feel a thing.

Hours passed, but Lindsey remained still. Her fingers shaking, along with every part of her body, she picked up the phone and dialed his number, dying a bit more at every ring.

"Hello?"

"Tyler? I-"

"Babe, I got to go. Can we talk later? I have an important meeting in two minutes and-"

She'd hung up before he could say more, and, for the first time in what seemed eternity, tried to get some sleep.

Out all the times he could not be with her, it had to be the one time she was falling apart.

* * *

**A few things: Sorry I could not explain the last part. I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted it so I plainly left it at that. :/ So I'll leave what you think happened to you guys. I also find it kinda weird how I didn't mention Heather at _all_.. Oh, and incase anyone's wondering the lyrics in '3' were from 'Heels Over Head' - Boys Like Girls.**

**Anyway, R&R! And again, merry Christmas! :D**


End file.
